The invention relates to an adjustable vehicle seat belt anchorage for use in or with a vehicle seat belt system having a shoulder or diagonal belt.
Vehicle seat belt systems conventionally include a belt arranged to extend in use diagonally across the torso of the occupant of a seat with which the system is associated. This diagonal or shoulder belt or belt portion is usually continued from a securement position at its lower end, which position may be constituted by a manually releasable buckle, across the user's lap, to another securement position or anchorage on the other side so that the system constitutes a three-point or lap and diagonal system.
The diagonal belt normally extends downwardly from a position in the vehicle defined by a vehicle anchorage or by a running loop through which the belt extends from a retractor for example an emergency locking retractor. To enable this position to be adjustable to suit users of different shoulder heights it has been proposed in GB 2 015 321 A (KL 75) to provide a strap fixed in place independently of the seat belt system, to which a shoulder belt extending from an anchorage can be secured by a connector slidable along the strap. The connection to the elongate member strap does not have to carry the load that would be imposed on the seat belt in emergency conditions and the strap is merely received through the apertures between three parallel bars of the connector. Also, in DE-OS 25 36 665 (FIGS. 7 and 8), a seat belt extends from a retractor upwardly to and downwardly from a guide loop of a connector movable along belt length for height adjustment. Again the belt length extends through the apertures between three parallel bars of the connector, so there is not much resistance to movement of the connector along the belt length, contrary to what would be essential to the security of the system under emergency conditions.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an adjustable shoulder anchorage for a vehicle seat belt system in which a connector for supporting a shoulder belt or belt portion is selectively movable along a flexible member, the connector being positively engaged therewith so as to be substantially immovable therealong under emergency loading of the shoulder belt.
It is also an object of the invention to provide an adjustable shoulder anchorage for a shoulder belt of a vehicle seat belt system which can be readily installed either as original equipment or by way of modification of an existing seat belt system.